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Good stuff. This is crazy how empty our roster is. They sure did dig themselves a hole. Might as well start over. Why I was hopn to trade Avril last off season so we;d have a least anthoer decent pick to fill hole. So frustrating having to deal with this. Lack of vision. Its just time to figuree it out with some of these guys. I'm cutting or trading Nate,Best,S.Hill,Dom,Backus, and KVB. Just feel the money could be better served. Houston is about the only guy i'd focus on and he'll probably want more then id be willing to pay. And anyone we'd even try to sign is gonna know we are desprate for any kind of help and over price themselves.

Good stuff. This is crazy how empty our roster is. They sure did dig themselves a hole. Might as well start over. Why I was hopn to trade Avril last off season so we;d have a least anthoer decent pick to fill hole. So frustrating having to deal with this. Lack of vision. Its just time to figuree it out with some of these guys. I'm cutting or trading Nate,Best,S.Hill,Dom,Backus, and KVB. Just feel the money could be better served. Houston is about the only guy i'd focus on and he'll probably want more then id be willing to pay. And anyone we'd even try to sign is gonna know we are desprate for any kind of help and over price themselves.

In Detroit, Houston has become a border top 10 CB. Ill be so pissed if he's not a Lion next year._________________

Good stuff. This is crazy how empty our roster is. They sure did dig themselves a hole. Might as well start over. Why I was hopn to trade Avril last off season so we;d have a least anthoer decent pick to fill hole. So frustrating having to deal with this. Lack of vision. Its just time to figuree it out with some of these guys. I'm cutting or trading Nate,Best,S.Hill,Dom,Backus, and KVB. Just feel the money could be better served. Houston is about the only guy i'd focus on and he'll probably want more then id be willing to pay. And anyone we'd even try to sign is gonna know we are desprate for any kind of help and over price themselves.

In Detroit, Houston has become a border top 10 CB. Ill be so pissed if he's not a Lion next year.

Same here. He's my top priority, pay the man._________________Oh no, we suck again
- Calvin's out

The cap situation is not great this year, but it's been worse. There are some positives, which I'll get to, but let's start with the negatives.

#1) They go into next offseason retaining four defensive starters (Suh, Fairley, KVB, and Tulloch), one of which (KVB) is arguably the worst starter at any position in the NFL. They have no safeties to speak of, and no corner depth.
#2) Resigning Houston isn't going to come cheap. He's been a top-10 corner this year, and that's going to cost them in the offseason. They're not going to resign him for anything less than $8 million per year, and his asking price is probably going to start north of $10.
#3) The Lions have too much of their salary tied up in Suh, CJ, and Stafford, but the guys are actually mostly playing to their contracts. I don't see Suh as someone that's going to restructure, but I could be wrong about that.
#4) Even if they cut KVB and Burleson, it's not going to save them a ton of money (unless they cut them after June 1st - does that push back the cap hit?). They won't be able to sign any big-name vets, so they're going to need to hit the defense hard in the early rounds of the draft.

And yet, even with those, there are positives.
#1) With the exception of Houston (and arguably Delmas, who's injured most of the time), they will retain all of their best players next year (Stafford, CJ, Suh, Fairley, their offensive line, Tulloch, and LeShoure).
#2) They will have a pretty high pick. They're probably going to cream Arizona (worst offense in history?), but I don't see them beating Atlanta and a Chicago team all of the sudden fighting for a playoff spot. That will leave them with 5 wins, which will have them somewhere between 8-10. They should be able to get a good pick there (my dream would be Te'o, but I don't think they'll be high enough for that).
#3) If Bell comes relatively cheap, their offense will survive mostly intact. They'll need to upgrade their third receiver spot, but that can be done through the draft. Of course, it would be nice if they had a TE that could reliably catch and hold onto the ball, but Pettigrew and Scheffler are serviceable TEs.
#4) Most of the expiring contracts are chaff. Besides Houston and Hill, nearly everyone has had a mediocre season at best. They'll need to do what they can to resign Houston, and they'll probably lose Avril, but if they target cheap free agents and build the defense through the draft it's unlikely that it will take a significant step backwards.
#5) A lot of their losses were really flukey, and they played the most difficult schedule in the league. That won't be the case next year.
#6) The ball did not bounce their way much this year, and they fought through a lot of injuries. They still have one of the most potent offensive combinations in the league in Stafford and CJ, who is on pace to set an NFL record for most receiving yards. Bell and Leshoure form a good (if unspectacular) running duo. They need another receiver or two, (or TY to grow up), but they're not alone in that.
#7) They have the best combination of DTs in the league in Suh and Fairley (#4 and #6 ranked in the league by PFF). Get them a pass-rusher on the outside with more than scary-looking red eyes, and this defensive line can be really, really good.

There is a light at the end of this long, brutal tunnel, guys. Let's hope it comes sooner rather than later.

I think another strategy they may use this year is trading future picks.

The cap is the largest issue holding the Lions back from increasing talent. They were crippled by having numerous high picks prior to implementation of the rookie cap. So in the short term they need to add cost effective talent to improve the roster.

This is a year I could see Mayhew dangling high draft picks from 2014 and 2015 trying to secure more high picks in this years draft. It would allow the addition of more young top rated talent without being handcuffed by the large contracts previously associated with high picks.

While it would be a negative two years down the road the Lions theoretically would have a larger core of young players and would have more cap space available to address needs in free agency.

I think another strategy they may use this year is trading future picks.

The cap is the largest issue holding the Lions back from increasing talent. They were crippled by having numerous high picks prior to implementation of the rookie cap. So in the short term they need to add cost effective talent to improve the roster.

This is a year I could see Mayhew dangling high draft picks from 2014 and 2015 trying to secure more high picks in this years draft. It would allow the addition of more young top rated talent without being handcuffed by the large contracts previously associated with high picks.

While it would be a negative two years down the road the Lions theoretically would have a larger core of young players and would have more cap space available to address needs in free agency.

In addition they do have some young prospects with upside, Bentley, Whitehead and company.

Now if they were to shuffle around and add four picks in the first two rounds they could potentially add four impact starters which would really advance the roster quality.

Of course, that is assuming they resign Levy, Bell, and Houston, which may be expensive.

If anything, I'd like to see the Lions trade down. They have their QB and what they need is depth and to take advantage of their high position. The sweet spot of the draft is in the late first, early 2nd, where you can get guys that can start and be effective, and over the long term haul in a couple guys that have team leadership potential.

Unless you see a guy that can alter the way other teams look at your defense (Te'o and Milliner are the two guys in this draft that I can see that from), then I'd rather see the Lions trade down.